Caldwell, ID – The last link between you and the catch is the landing net. Its performance, and the skills of the “net man,” will determine if there’ll be a fish and chips or Sonic and fries on the drive home. Consequently, it’s imperative to wield the right landing net for the job and then know how to use it. That goes for everyone in the boat, bank, or pier fishing party. No exceptions.
Regrettably, selecting a landing net isn’t made easy at store level. Too often, they’re merchandised atop kiosks only in reach of the tallest amongst us. Even if accessible, landing nets are habitually clustered in no particular order, making what is already a difficult decision even harder.
EGO Fishing is dedicated to walking you through the purchasing process. Not only does EGO engineer and construct the finest landing nets in fishing, the American company offers landing nets for all occasions, and offers these insights for making the perfect selection:
CHOOSING THE RIGHT HOOP
The first thing you’ll notice on EGO landing nets is the scoop on the hoop’s leading edge. “The scoop serves a couple purposes, firstly getting the hoop below the nose of a fish to lead it in,” explained EGO Fishing CEO Grant Corbett. “It also moves the fish’s center of gravity forward, its weight shifting to your advantage.”
From there, it’s selecting the appropriate hoop size. What drives that decision is considering the fish species, and their relative size, as well as boat space. For landlubbers, hoop size is also guided by the amount of space in your beach cart, pack, or what’s realistic to lug around.
EGO offers five hoop sizes to accommodate your individual fishing circumstances.
SMALL HOOP
Serious panfish anglers use landing nets. We’re talking about those 10-inch bluegills, 15-inch crappies, and foot-long-or-more perch. Even with smaller “eaters,” missing a few boatside because you didn’t have a net is penalized with lost meat.
EGO’s COMPACT hoop measures 14″ by 16″ to easily quarter panfish of all lengths and girths. It also manages small trout, bass, and walleyes.
MEDIUM HOOP
This is the bass angler’s favorite. At 17″ x 19″, the MEDIUM hoop sizes perfectly for largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, as well as chunkier panfish and trout. Bassers also find the MEDIUM right-sized for positioning on deck and not hitting everything in sight when reaching for the net. Sure, lift lipping bass looks cool, but not only can you pay the piper with a got-away, hoisting a fish by the jaw isn’t healthy for released fish.
LARGE HOOP
EGO considers this the do-everything size. The 19″ x 21″ LARGE is popular with multispecies anglers. It’s reliable for scooping walleyes and bass and gets play with inshore saltwater anglers as well. It’s simply an excellent catch-all choice.
LARGE 22″ HOOP
EGO satisfied requests from walleye anglers to make a hoop size between the LARGE and XLARGE. The LARGE 22″ HOOP answered that call. It handles more impressively sized walleyes, the Great Lakes sort of fish. Once introduced, the specialty size was also embraced by the inshore crowd.
XLARGE HOOP
Beast mode… At 24″ x 27″, the XLARGE HOOP is built to encounter more sizable inshore species like redfish and snook, as well as catfish, salmon, and large trout on the freshwater size.
EGO S2 SLIDER
Equally as important as using the right hoop size is it being attached to a premium handle. Or rather, the best handle. EGO’s S2 Slider forever changed landing nets. The patented mechanism lets you effortlessly extend and contract the handle. Extend, land the fish, retract, and bring it home.
Contracting the handle is key to finishing the act. Lifting plus-sized fish at full extension stresses the handle – the handle on all landing nets, from any manufacturer. Shortening the handle improves your management skills boatside, too. Much easier to control a flopping fish.
Done right, you can finish up a 70-lb. catfish with an EGO landing net, said Corbett.
Another upside of the EGO S2 Slider system is the ability to swap hoops. Instead of multiple landing nets cluttering the garage, you can own a single S2 Slider handle and add hoop sizes as needed, not to mention swapping out for one of EGO’s utilitarian accessory heads, like Deck Brush or Deluxe Deck Mop.
Next time, we’ll get into how to choose the right net material and shape. Watch for it…
NOTE TO RETAILERS
EGO is committed to your store, offering FREE custom fit modular displays for an EGO landing net assortment. The display is proven to improve the net selection process, while bolstering sales through the instant availability of S2 Slider accessories and multiple hoop sizes.
ABOUT EGO Fishing
Fourteen years ago, we set out on a simple mission – to develop a better fishing landing net solution that addressed the many functional and performance problems that existed with the traditional products. What started out as a small landing net company has now grown into the innovation leader in the fishing net and accessories category of the sport fishing industry. EGO products are sold at most major sporting goods retail chains and are carried by a large network of distributors and independent dealers in the United States. Distribution has also grown internationally to include countries such as Canada, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Japan.
